Despite what we viewed on the History Channel last night, both the Feast of All Saints and the Feast of All Souls evolved in the life of the Church independently of paganism and Halloween. That is the conclusion of the historical analysis from Fr. William Saunders who wrote about these feasts a few years ago in the Arlington Catholic Herald. His historical overview, reproduced by Catholic Education Resource Center, is worth a read to warm up for these two feast days in which he concedes that “elements of pagan practices were perhaps ‘baptized’ by some cultures or attached themselves to the celebration of All Saints and All Souls”–celebrations which clearly arose from a genuine Christian devotion.

A couple of sentences gleaned from this interesting historical analysis:

The designation of Nov. 1 as the Feast of All Saints occurred over time…we find the Church establishing a liturgical feast day in honor of the saints independent of any pagan influence.

During World War I, Pope Benedict XV, recognizing the number of war dead and the numerous Masses that could not be fulfilled because of destroyed Churches, granted all priests the privilege of offering three Masses on All Souls Day: one for the particular intention, one for all of the faithful departed, and one for the intentions of the Holy Father.